漫画大王

Chapter 144

I nodded, agreeing with Charlotte’s reasonable suspicion. “It’s possible. The president of the Royal Class student council also told us that there were no issues with the club, but she didn’t seem aware of the real situation.”

I didn’t know what kind of person the student council president was, but why would they be involved with such a suspicious club?

Charlotte and I pondered the situation in the hallway just below the suspicious club room, trying to figure out how we could find out what those guys were up to.

“We could just open the door and ask them what they’re doing...”

Charlotte seemed to be considering a hardline approach. Since eavesdropping was out of the question, we had to come up with a different way to gather information. But could we force them to confess just by barging in?

A hardline approach was an extreme measure.

I came up with another hard measure. “We could wait until their activities are over and then tail one of them to interrogate them.”

Since the members wouldn’t be in there forever, we could grab one of them for questioning once they began to leave. That way, we could find out what the Exodium club was up to.

“Hmm... In the end, both measures involve violence, so we should be prepared for disciplinary action if it turns out to be nothing.”

I nodded at Charlotte’s words. As long as the disciplinary action wasn’t as severe as expulsion, it would be fine. I had already been branded a troublemaker anyway.

Charlotte and I were leaning against the window at the end of the second-floor hallway, contemplating which method to choose.

“... It looks like not everyone has arrived yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Charlotte pointed out the window.

There was a student entering the building, draped in a robe. It wasn’t unusual for there to be a latecomer...

‘Wait, hold on.’

“... Now that I think about it, didn’t they say that the members don’t know each other?”

“... They did, didn’t they?”

The president might know the names of all the members, but for this gathering, everyone was wearing robes that concealed who they were.

“How about I go in instead of that guy?”

“Oh...”

Our eavesdropping had already revealed the password.

“That won’t work. You’re too tall. You’ll definitely get caught. Plus, the club president will likely remember your voice.”

“What if I say that I’m feeling off due to a cold?”

“... As if a club president who uses passwords would believe that.”

Charlotte did not like the idea of infiltrating the club undercover. Eventually, it seemed the best course of action in our current situation was to catch one of the members as they left after the club activity.

Creak.

The door on the opposite side of the second-floor opened.

It didn’t matter if we were spotted by those from either the third floor or the second floor.

However, Charlotte tilted her head in confusion as she caught a glimpse of the person who came out into the hallway.

“... That’s Detto, right?”

Though we were a distance away, I could recognize him too.

He was B-8, Dettomorian.

***

B-8, Dettomorian—his talents lay in curses and psychic skills.

Alongside Scarlett, he was another one in Class B who was typically shunned. Of course, thanks to Charlotte’s protection, Scarlett no longer faced ostracization, but I did not know how Dettomorian was faring.

He was the kind of person that people tended to avoid due to his gloomy appearance and the eerie aura that shrouded him.

He had heavy, dark circles under his eyes and a thin, gaunt frame, and his hair was always a mess.

While seeing Scarlett in person might make one wonder why she was being ostracized, just seeing Dettomorian in the flesh would make a person feel as though they were right to avoid him. That was the vibe he gave off.

Indeed, he was a guy who often saw ghosts, and spoke in a spooky manner.

But why was this guy here at this time?

Charlotte, who was kind and gentle to almost everyone except Vertus, ran down the hallway excitedly upon seeing Dettomorian and called out to him. “Detto!”

‘You even had a nickname for him? You... you don’t have one for me!’

“... Charlotte.”

Upon hearing Charlotte calling him, Dettomorian turned his skeletal body to face her.

“You said you weren’t available on weeknights. You’re attending a club activity?”

“... Yes.”

Charlotte, unfazed by Dettomorian’s squinting gaze, smiled. Although I approached him as well—only because Charlotte did—I felt a completely different vibe.

“What kind of club is it?”

Swish.

Instead of answering, Dettomorian pointed toward the door he had just exited from.

[Occult Research Club]

No club could be more fitting for him.

I suddenly realized that the students in Class B who weren’t main characters were engaging in various activities that were unknown to me. Dettomorian was certainly not a character who grew close to Ludwig in his freshman year.

He was just a somewhat spooky kid...

He lived like a ghost, only to gain importance later on.

“... Ah. I see.”

Upon seeing the sign that said“Occult Research Club”, Charlotte let out an awkward laugh.

I’d always felt it, but this guy really looked like a living skeleton. Couldn’t he eat a bit more? How had he managed to survive the physical training at Temple so far with his physique?

No, it was all because of me.

Since I had set up his character to be the “top-class anchovy” of the universe, he clearly inherited a constitution that just did not allow him to put on weight.

‘I’m sorry, my friend. You can blame me...’

He slinked his skeletal body toward the bathroom. He was a guy who prioritized his own business, whether the princess acknowledged him or not.

Unpredictable, and stubbornly self-aced...

Dettomorian was that kind of guy.

“Maybe we could ask Detto about it. He might know something.”

W-What? Was Charlotte using a nickname she had made up for him?

‘Why am I getting annoyed? Am I feeling jealous or something?’

Then again, Charlotte seemed to be using it without attaching much thought or meaning to it.

Anyhow, since he was in the same building as the one in wich the suspicious club was gathering, Charlotte’s speculation that Dettomorian might know something about them seemed quite reasonable.

“Let’s ask him.”

“Okay.”

Soon, he came out of the bathroom.

“Detto, do you have a moment? Can we talk?”

“...”

He paused for a moment, peering at us with his lifeless eyes, then he pointed towards the club room.

He seemed to be suggesting for us to speak there.

“... Aren’t there other members inside? Wouldn’t we be disturbing them?”

He shook his head at Charlotte’s question.

“... It’s just me.”

A guy who did his club activities alone, on the subject of the occult...

“Ah, I see.”

Charlotte and I felt a slight chill run down our spines.

***

Creeeak.

Charlotte and I followed Dettomorian as he opened the door to the Occult Research Club.

“... It’s dark in here...”

The lights were all turned off, and despite it already being night, there were blackout curtains that prevented any light from seeping in.

In the middle of the room, a single candle served as the sole source of light. An unknown formation was drawn around that candle.

It didn’t look like any magic circle I had ever seen. It seemed ominous from just one glance.

It was drawn in something crimson...

‘Surely that can’t be blood, right?’

“Um, it’s really dark in here. Can we turn on the light...?” Charlotte asked cautiously.

“... Then the ritual would end.” Dettomorian did not elaborate further on what kind of ritual he was performing. Charlotte’s lips began to tremble slightly.

What kind of ritual, and whether it was okay for it to end or not, he wouldn’t say.

‘Finish your sentences, damn it!’

I did not even dare think about giving him a piece of my mind for fear of being cursed.

Ah... This was exactly the way Erhi ostracized innocent Scarlett, just for being so ominous.

‘Let’s not hold prejudices. Let’s not hold prejudices. Let’s not hold prejudices. I am an adult.’

“Oh. So... so we shouldn’t, right?”

“... It doesn’t matter. I can always perform it again. Although it took about a week to prepare...”

“Y-Yeah okay, we won’t turn the lights on then...”

Charlotte gave up on the idea of turning on the lights, still not fully understanding what was going on and fearing it might ruin the week-long ritual Dettomorian was conducting.

He sat down in front of the candle and dragged a couple of chairs over for us to sit.

“... Sit here.”

Whether it was his words or just the creepy atmosphere of the room itself, a bizarre fear crept up on me that sitting anywhere else but there might bring disaster.

“U-Uhm, okay...”

‘Charlotte. I can read your thoughts right now. You’re thinking that this Occult Research Club that only Dettomorian is a member of is even more suspicious than Exodium, aren’t you?’

Charlotte and I took the seats that Dettomorian had indicated.

“You’re running the club... alone?”

“I’ve tried recruiting other members... but no one comes.”

‘Who would want to come here?’

The place was beyond spooky. There was a constant atmosphere that something bad would happen, as if anyone entering out of curiosity might leave crying.

Even the faint light from the candle made the strange tools scattered about seem creepy.

It seemed Dettomorian had formed this club on his own. Charlotte appeared to grow curious for reasons other than the eerie atmosphere.

“Hmm... But can you start a club by yourself? Don’t you require a minimum number of members...?”

Indeed. Starting a club alone should have been impossible. There had to be a minimum number of members.

“... I can.”

The bizarre claim that he could while others couldn’t made Charlotte tilt her head in confusion.

“... The Temple... can’t teach sorcery... so I study it here on my own... It’s like my personal study room...”

“Ah... Right...”

Charlotte nodded as if she understood. Perhaps she had heard something similar before.

While I was not close to Dettomorian, I had written about him. He possessed talents in sorcery and psychic skills, but the Temple did not offer any related curricula. Sorcery was considered a practice of ancient magic, put into actual use. Dettomorian, who didn’t necessarily need to attend classes at the Temple, chose to enroll for the convenience of studying sorcery with the institution’s support. Therefore, the Temple afforded him the convenience of forming a club to study sorcery on his own, since they couldn’t teach it. His major required him to study alone.

Thus, he had received exclusive permission to establish a one-person club.

... There was nowhere for Dettomorian to learn sorcery, but he became proficient at it later on anyhow. Since I never added the reason for it within the origins story, the backstory that was created for him was that he learned it on his own in a one-person club.

However, the fact that he chose to have a general club room over an internal one within the Royal Class meant that... he wished that others would join him. If it were an internal club within the Royal Class, recruitment would be practically impossible, since there were too few individuals.

Given the club’s focus, and seeing just what he did, it seemed like no joke that recruitment was practically impossible.

It felt as if real ghosts might appear if you played spirit-summoning games with him, and when that happened, he’d say something like, “Oh, that’s not how you’re supposed to do it.”

“But, does all this really involve summoning ghosts... then?”

Wouldn’t performing rituals to summon ghosts right in the middle of the Temple be even more concerning than what the Demon God Cult members were up to?

Charlotte seemed to be seriously contemplating whether we had to shift our focus from the Exodium club to this one.

“Ghosts are everywhere... It’s not about summoning... It’s about sensing what’s already there...” Dettomorian said.

“Huh?!”

“What?”

“So... the term ‘summoning’ is a misuse of words...” He continued.

‘Oh, this is driving me crazy...”’

“Of course... performing such rituals... does attract them... so it’s not entirely incorrect...”

The space around us was teeming with ghosts that Charlotte and I couldn’t feel.

Suddenly, Charlotte quietly grasped my hand.

She quickly released it as soon as she grabbed it, and I was unsure whether it was an involuntary action or if she’d grabbed it and then gotten scared herself.

She looked terrified to death.

‘I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to dispel ghosts either and I’m terribly afraid of jump scares...’

Even in a fantasy world, if a ghost suddenly appeared, I was pretty sure I’d have a heart attack.

I hated being startled more than anything in the world...

[You have discovered the truth behind the rumors of the Temple’s ghosts.]

[Event Completed — Ghosts of the Temple]

[You have received 300 achievement points.]

I jumped in surprise upon seeing the event completion notice pop up out of nowhere.

“Ah!!! Damn it! Shit!”

“W-Wh-What is it?! What happened?!”